Me. Oliva et Jl. Luque, METAZOAN PARASITE INFRACOMMUNITIES IN 5 SCIAENIDS FROM THE CENTRAL PERUVIAN COAST, Memorias do Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, 93(2), 1998, pp. 175-180
Parasitological analysis of 237 Menticirrhus ophicephalus, 124 Paralon
churus peruanus, 249 Sciaena deliciosa, 50 Sciaena fasciata and 308 St
ellifer minor from Callao (Peru) yielded 37 species of metazoan parasi
tes (14 Monogenea, II Copepoda, 4 Nematoda, 3 Acanthocephala, I Digene
a, 1 Aspidobothrea, 1 Eucestoda, 1 Isopoda and 1 Hirudinea). Only one
species, the copepoda Bomolochus peruensis, was common to all five hos
ts. The majority of the components of the infracommunities analyzed ar
e ectoparasites. The Brillouin inner (H) and evenness (J') were applie
d to the fully sampled metazoan parasite infracommunities. High values
of prevalence and mean abundance of infection am associated to the po
lyonchoinean monogeneans; the low values of J' reinforce the strong do
minance of this group in the studied communities. The paucity of the e
ndoparasite fauna may be a consequence of the unstable environment due
to an upwelling system, aperiodically affected by the El Nino Souther
n Oscillation phenomena.